Lloyd’s invests in AI startup

It follows the unveiling of its “Future for Lloyd’s” manifesto last week

Lloyd’s of London has announced that it will invest in Layr – a cloud-based commercial insurance platform.

This follows a successful trial in Lloyd’s Lab and the welcoming of its second cohort of twelve insurtech startups, Layr being one of them. The firm secured an investment from Lloyd’s to further develop its solution and it is also exploring potential distribution opportunities with several of Lloyd’s syndicates.

The comes after Lloyd’s unveiled its ”Future for Lloyd’s” strategy last week which included a commitment to expand the scope of activity in its lab.

Disruption

Layr is a US startup which uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to compare an applicant against clusters of similar small businesses. It participated in Lloyd’s first cohort using the opportunity to test its cloud-based solution to provide faster access for small businesses looking to purchase liability insurance.

Its platform bypasses carriers’ APIs by using propriety price and an appetite prediction engine to match business with policies and price. It allows the firm to provide indications for lines of coverage across more industries in real time.

Phillip Naples chief executive at Layr, said: “Modern business owners do everything online, so Layr is the natural evolution for small business insurance. We feel validated that the world’s oldest and most respected insurance marketplace agrees and recognises that the technology we’re creating is the future of small commercial distribution.”

Lloyd’s Lab

On 29 April Lloyd’s Lab started working with its second cohort which consisted of twelve teams selected from more than 250 applicants.

The programme is ten weeks long running up until 3 July, and startups will have the opportunity to showcase their products to potential investors.

Trevor Maynard, Lloyd’s head of innovation, said: “Lloyd’s is in a unique position to drive innovation within the insurance market and the success stories coming from our first cohort confirm that. I am delighted by the breadth of experience and ideas of this new cohort, and by how the start-ups have strived to make their innovative solutions relevant to the Lloyd’s market. Having the engagement and expertise of so many market participants is another unparalleled advantage, and an important part of our success.”

The twelve teams were selected in a two-step competitive application process, where the best 22 startups presenting their ideas to experts across the market.

In December six Lloyd’s syndicates subscribed to use Parsyl’s internet of things (IoT) solution to offer crafted risk coverage for sensitive shipments.